


Of Chase and Children's Literature

by lucybeetle



Series: This Is Your Real Starting Line [2]
Category: Kamen Rider Drive
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Crack, Gift Fic, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 21:13:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5179904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucybeetle/pseuds/lucybeetle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gou, Kiriko and Shinnosuke try to answer some of Chase's questions about their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Chase and Children's Literature

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kitarin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitarin/gifts).



Chase was good at saving the world from Roidmudes. He was good at riding motorbikes and driving cars. He was good at getting in and out of constrictingly tight leather trousers with no trouble at all. One thing that Chase was not good at was understanding humans. 

This meant that, as much as Shinnosuke, Kiriko, and Gou adored him, he wasn’t always an easy person to live with. Especially when they themselves didn’t have answers to certain things. Once Chase began to ask why they all lived together, why other people weren’t supposed to know about it, why they couldn’t marry each other, it was very difficult to try to explain to him. Gou thought he might have found a solution.

“I read about it on the internet,” said Gou, waving the book under Kiriko’s nose. “It’s … OK, it’s not _exactly_ about families like us, but it’s a metaphor, right? Some people use it to teach their kids about this stuff.”

“It’s about a cat? What does that have to do with it?” Kiriko squinted at the picture on the cover.

“Don’t worry. I really think this will help Chase get it. We just need to sit down with him sometime,” said Gou.

“I think that might be a good idea.” 

Kiriko smiled, just as Shinnosuke came into the room, “That’s the nicest smile I’ve seen from you all week.”

“Shin-nii-san.” Gou clapped him on the shoulder heavily, and Shinnosuke stumbled, “I just might have taken care of one of our problems.”

Later, the three of them looked at the book and agreed that it could be a useful tool for explaining certain concepts to Chase. He couldn’t read it for himself, because it was in English, and there was no Japanese translation; but Gou would be able to read it to him and help him understand the story. Sunday afternoons tended to be family time if no one had plans, so this would be the best time for them to raise the subject with Chase. When Sunday came around they asked him to sit on the sofa with them and read a special story.

Chase reached out and reverently stroked his fingers over the front cover. He liked cats. Kiriko and Shinnosuke had been talking about getting one for him when they were sure he would be able to care for it properly and not let it run out into the traffic.

Gou opened the book. “OK, this is a cat, right? And he lives here, on this street.”

“That does not look like a street,” said Chase.

“It’s not a street in Japan. It’s in another country, so it looks different. Anyway, the cat is called Sid, and he lives at houses number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 on this street.”

“It is not possible for a cat to be in six places.”

“Not all at the same time, Chase,” Kiriko interrupted. “It’s like if I lived here, but then I went to another house, and then another house … do you understand?”

Chase nodded.

“Right. So the cat lives in six different houses, and he has six dinners every night,” said Gou.

“Why?”

Gou sighed. “I don’t know. He likes eating six dinners.”

“He doesn’t look like he eats that much,” said Shinnosuke, glancing over Gou’s shoulder at the page. “Wouldn’t a cat who ate six dinners every night be really fat?” He popped a couple of milk candies into his mouth without the slightest indication of self-awareness.

Kiriko looked over at the book too and said “He _is_ kinda big. I mean, if that were your cat, wouldn’t you be a little suspicious?”

“Can you two just shut up about freaking cat obesity!” said Gou. Chase was watching them, confused; so Gou went on “The cat has six different owners, but they don’t talk to each other. And they never find out that he’s been living with all of them. Each person thinks he belongs to just them.”

“This cat is wasting valuable resources. The humans should do something about him,” said Chase.

“That’s the point. They can’t do anything, because they don’t know he’s doing it,” said Gou. “He’s a cat, yeah? He can’t talk.”

Chase fixed Gou with a stare, “I know that.”

“OK, then maybe stop interrupting me.” Gou turned the page. “It’s really hard for the cat to not get found out, but he does it because he likes having six dinners. And he likes living in six different houses and getting tickled in six different places.”

“Think about the way you like each one of us for different reasons,” said Kiriko. “I love you because you’re my guardian spirit, and Tomari-san because he’s my buddy, and Gou because he’s my brother. But I live with all of you, so I have all those things at the same time. That’s what the cat wants to do.”

Chase was silent for a moment, then he said “If the cat loved these humans, he would not eat so much of their food.”

“Cats don’t really care about that kind of thing. They’re assholes,” said Gou.

“What is an ‘asshole?’”

Gou turned away and mumbled something about how Chase would find out what an asshole was when Gou inserted the book there. Kiriko smacked him in the arm.

“Ugh, nee-chan! Don’t do that!”

“Just get on with the story, Gou,” she said.

“All right, all right! So this cat thought his life was perfect, until he got a horrible cough. Then, all his owners took him to the doctor. He had to go there six times, and have six spoonfuls of medicine.”

Kiriko nodded, her lips narrowed into a taut line. “This is why you have to be honest with people.”

“Excuse me? You can’t lie to me that you didn’t throw my T-shirts out, and then tell Chase to be honest,” said Shinnosuke.

“They were hideous! I bought you nice new stuff and yet you never wear it!” Kiriko said.

“Shut up and stop interrupting me!” yelled Gou.

Chase said, “Are you finished now, Gou? I must iron Shinnosuke and Kiriko's shirts before they go to work tomorrow.”

“Not yet. Let’s just try and get this thing over with,” said Gou. He took a few seconds to compose himself, then returned his attention to the book. “Basically, the vet realised it was the same cat. He told all the owners that their cat had been living with all these people. They didn’t like it, and they reduced his food.”

Chase made a satisfied little noise at that.

“But the cat liked having six dinners. So he moved to a new street and found six new owners. And this time, the owners talked to each other, so they knew what the cat was doing. Then at the end it says ‘… _and because everyone knew, nobody minded_ ,’” said Gou.

They all looked down at the final image in the book: a happy cat, surrounded by his owners, who loved him.

“Aww, that’s really cute,” said Shinnosuke.

“What that means is it’s OK to be with more than one person. You just have to make sure all of them are happy with it,” said Gou. "Got that?"

“You love me, don’t you, Chase?” said Kiriko. “And you know I love Tomari-san. And I know you love Tomari-san and Gou. And the reason we can all be together is because we tell each other these things and we're happy to live as a family. It would only be wrong if we kept secrets.”

“We do keep secrets. When I said in the supermarket that Shinnosuke’s scrotum is exceptionally sensitive, you told me that no one must know about it,” said Chase.

“Hey. _That’s_ different.” Shinnosuke pointed his finger at Chase.

“It is still a secret."

Ignoring this, Shinnosuke said “What Gou’s been trying to say, in a really weird way, is we love you. And you love us, so that’s why we’re a family. And OK, it’s not what most people do, but what they think isn’t really that important. Because we’re happy. Aren’t we?”

Chase nodded. Kiriko smiled, and the corners of Gou’s mouth turned up too, “Group hug!” He reached out with both arms and pulled Kiriko and Chase close to him, then grabbed Shinnosuke’s shoulder and dragged him into the embrace.

“Gou! You’ll rip my clothes!” Shinnosuke wailed.

“That hurts. Let go now,” said Kiriko.

Chase petted Gou’s arm, then he got up and walked towards the front door.

“Where are you going?” Gou called out.

“Mrs Aizawa at number 43 has a cat. I am going to warn her that it is eating too many dinners.”

**Author's Note:**

> The book being read for Chase is of course the wonderful _Six-Dinner Sid_ by Inga Moore, which is (as Gou says) sometimes used to teach children about the concept of polyamory. It didn't work quite so well for poor Chase. Sorry, Gou. You tried.


End file.
